Dallas McCarver dies, aged 26

No, it’s not fake news. Popular IFBB Pro bodybuilder Dallas McCarver, also known as ‘Big Country’, has died.

The 26-year-old was found unconscious on Tuesday morning by a fellow bodybuilder and Mr. Olympia competitor Josh Lenartowicz in his Florida home shortly after speaking with his girlfriend, WWE star Dana Brooke, on the phone. He was later pronounced dead at a local hospital.

Brooke told the media the last thing McCarver said to her was, “I love you. Goodbye.”

Earlier this year, McCarver collapsed while posing at the Arnold Classic in Australia. At the time, he apparently had an upper respiratory infection that became bronchitis. He decided to skip the Mr. Olympia this year.

IFBB Pro James Flex Lewis, a training partner of McCarver, posted on social media: “I write this with tears running down my face in disbelief you are gone. I’m expecting you to text me asking ‘what time we training champ?’ I don’t want to leave that reality you are not coming back, to walk into the gym again, and call my name.”

Since the news of McCarver’s death fellow athletes from all over the world flocked to social media to offer their condolences to his family and friends.

Lenartowicz also took to Instagram sharing photos of himself with McCarver.

“Today we lost a great bodybuilder but an even greater person,” he wrote in the post.

“So many lives impacted, encouraged and uplifted because of your only life here on earth.”

McCarver, a former football player, won his first bodybuilding show back in 2011 and earned his IFBB Pro Card at the age of 21.

Prior to his death McCarver shared a video of himself on social media where he was pressing dumbbells at the gym.

He finished in eighth place at the Mr. Olympia in 2016. McCarver was also the face of RedCon1, an online sports supplement and training apparel site. Aaron Singerman, CEO of RedCon1, recounted in an emotional Facebook video how Lenartowicz “found Dallas face down in the kitchen and not breathing.”

He apparently choked on food. Authorities on Tuesday indicated the cause of McCarver’s death was pending a medical examiner’s report but no foul play was suspected.